Hello ,
Yesterday was the first of two one-and-a-half-hour meetings with two photographers.
As usual, at the start of a class, I asked them to make a
picture to see how they were using the camera and asked what difficulties they were having with their photography.
The difficulties they were experiencing involved focusing, controlling tonality (the pictures' brightness), and getting the image to come out as they intended.
The problem was they had no control over any of that stuff because the
exposure mode was fully automatic. And when we're making a picture in a fully automatic mode, we allow the camera to make the image instead of us thoughtfully using the camera to get the compositions we want.
While the camera was in the exposure mode used to make the picture, which seemed to be a fully automatic close-up scene setting, I went to the camera's LCD screen on the back. I pointed out the limited
functionality of the camera submenu because of the chosen exposure mode.
After switching to aperture and shutter priority modes, the LCD screen submenu offered much more camera functionality.
We could now access focusing modes and areas, metering patterns and modes, exposure compensation, and more.
I also shut off the technology altering the picture because It's important to create an image unaltered and uninfluenced by the technology so we can accurately see how we alone affect the picture's composition in terms of how our camera operation causes the picture's composition.
While working in aperture and shutter priority modes, we worked on techniques that allowed
the photographers to accurately control focusing, using shutter priority and aperture priority to control motion blur, depth of field, and exposure compensation to change the picture tonality.
At the end of the lesson, I asked what they got out of the hour-and-a-half class.
In short, the takeaways of the class were an understanding of camera
control and compositional outcomes and a camera that was pared down to essential functionality so we could simplify camera operation.
I especially enjoy the first meetings of multi-meeting classes because it's a giant leap from a fully automatic expose mode, where we have minimal control over the outcome of the picture, to a choice of exposure modes and other camera functionality, like focusing modes and areas, where we
have much more control over the composition.
In short, we move from the camera doing the work for us in a fully automatic exposure and taking whatever we get from the camera's algorithms to working the camera thoughtfully and intentionally to get the pictures we want.
All in about an hour and a half.
And remember, we learn and improve by doing, so practice making at least one picture today.
That’s all for now; thanks for reading!
Sam
Be a better photographer; study and practice photography with me.
And if the timing doesn't work for you in any of my scheduled group
classes, we can schedule a one-time lesson or a series of in-person or online one-on-one private instruction that covers the same things as any of my group classes.
